Potential Problem
by trinfaneb
Summary: Spike is patrolling with the Buffybot and encounters Jonathan and the two have a conversation that makes them both think about how to live up to their potential.


Potential Problem

Notes: Written for Cindy for the Jonathanathon. She wanted Spike in a season 6 conversation between the two of them and no rest of the trio involved in the conversation. This is the first non-drabble length, non-crossover Buffy story I've ever written. I wanted to do a crossover, but couldn't think of anything that fit, although I do mention "The Matrix."

Disclaimer: All characters are the intellectual property of their respective creators, film companies, etc.; this story may not be sold or distributed on a profit-making basis. I welcome free distribution of the story, but please let me know if you are going to do it. trinfaneb at yahoo dot com.

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Spike was having pleasant thoughts about the witch, the boy, and the watcher being laid up with injuries from last night's group patrol when he and the Buffybot spotted a vampire chasing someone around a mausoleum. The two were running in circles around the smallish crypt like demented cartoon characters and finally the vampire just stopped and turned around to catch the human as he completed a final circuit. The human was about to be a vampire snack when the bot grabbed the vamp by the shoulders and threw him against the crypt.

Spike hung back from the fight. He wanted to see how well the bot could do by itself. It made circling motions with its arms and said, "Wax on, wax off" as the vamp composed itself for an attack. Bleedin' great, the witch was fooling with the bot's AI program again.

The vampire rushed the bot and it stepped to one side, grabbed the vamp's arm and flipped him over her back onto the ground and then staked him in a series of fluid motions. Spike knew it had gotten a little lucky and wouldn't do as well against an experienced vampire, but it was still an impressive display. Not as good as the Slayer, but still in the same ballpark.

"Wow am I glad to see you Buffy. I should have known better than to take a shortcut through the cemetery at night," the human said. "I owe you another one." He was a short, dark-head young man. Spike remembered him.

"It was nothing," the bot replied. "I would love to stay and chat, but I have a headache and need to wash my hair." The bot was programmed to break off from conversations with strangers, especially with people who had known Buffy. Unfortunately the bot's replies dipped into the roleplaying scenarios from its sexbot days. Another thing he needed to talk with the witch about. He also wanted to give her a piece of his mind about the way she treated Tara sometimes. He wouldn't care if the earth swallowed most humans, but some like Mrs. Summers, Dawn, and Tara were alright.

"Go back to Willow now," Spike said to the bot. "I want to have a word with this wanker here."

"Fine I will go back to Willow now. She's gay."

"It was good seeing you again Buffy," the human said to the bot's retreating backside. He had a dejected look on his face.

"What do you have to say for yourself Jonathan?"

"How do you know my name?"

"I couldn't forget Jonathan, the most popular and gifted bloke in the world. Vampires don't forget spells as easily as humans do," Spike said as he put his game face on. "Please don't kill me. I only have the vaguest memory of the spell. If it wasn't for the notes I made immediately before and after, I probably would have forgotten it by now."

"I'm not going to kill you," Spike said as he de-vamped. "But I've still got a bone to pick with you for mucking about with my head. Its painful to think that I once considered you my greatest enemy. Although I do think you were a damm sight better in that Matrix movie than the real actor."

"I'm no enemy, just a guy trying get along in the world."

"Sounds like you're not doing very well with that. What with the suicide attempt and the spell and all. Buffy filled me in on your history. I had to remind her who you were."

"From the way she acted tonight, I think she forgot me again."

"Don't take it too hard, she's not herself these days."

"It's the story of my life, people only notice me when I do something extreme," Jonathon said as he sat down and leaned against the crypt.

"Didn't Buffy tell you that grand gestures don't fix everything?

"She did and my counselor did and my parents did. But then they stopped talking to me and went on with their lives like they always do. The only people who notice me are my two friends. And they still put me down although they're just as geeky as I am."

"Look mate, you gotta stick up for yourself, if you don't people will continue walking all over you."

"That's easy for you to say, you're a vampire and don't have to take crap from anyone."

"Not true, I take more crap than you would believe. And I used to be a geeky little poet myself. It took becoming a vampire for me to begin to realize my full potential, but I did it and so can you." Spike had intended to taunt the boy for a few laughs and then knock back a few cold ones at Willie's, but now he was giving the wanker a bleedin' pep talk. Damm the chip and his futile love for the Slayer.

"Well maybe you should make me a vampire. Anything would be better than this life."

"Death's not better than life," Spike said as he lit a cig. "I'm not a normal vampire. You're just going to have make something of who you really are."

"But I'm nothing. You can't make something from nothing."

"You obviously have some talents with magic. Concentrate on that for awhile and see where it takes you."

Jonathan considered this for awhile and said, "I can't screw up worse than I already have with it, can I?"

"That's the spirit."

"Thanks, I'm feeling better now. What's your name anyway?"

"I'm Spike."

"Thanks Spike," Jonathan said as he stood up. "You're very helpful for a vampire."

"Just remember to stay out of cemeteries after dark. Other vampires will kill you in a heartbeat, especially if they ever got a look at your swimsuit calender," Spike said as the human waved and walked away. He didn't know what had come over him. His mouth felt dirty from saying all those nice words and he hocked up a luggie and spit it out in an effort to feel cleaner.

But the more Spike thought about it, the better he felt. Jonathan was a wanker any way you cut it and encouraging him to use even more magic would ultimately lead to bad things. These days Spike couldn't physically harm humans and killed his demon brethren, but that didn't mean that he couldn't hurt people. He just had to more subtle about it. He knew he would ultimately feel guilty about this if Buffy was still alive. But she wasn't and every day he lived without the promise of ever seeing her again brought him closer to his old self. He had hurt so much when he saw the Slayer's body lying broken on the ground beneath the portal. It had been much easier to hate her than to love her. First he lost Drusilla, then Buffy. He wasn't just love's bitch, he was its dumping ground.

It would take awhile and he would feel horrible about eventually forgetting his promise to look after the Nibblet, but the easiest thing to do was to revert back to his old self. Yearning for the Slayer had made him want to be human. He had went to Doc seeking advice about how to make her fall in love with him. Doc had said the surest way was to get his soul back. The old demon had even given him directions on how to do it.

Spike was scared by the thought of getting his soul back. Scared of being shell shocked by all the guilt from killing people over the years. He didn't want to end up eating rats in an alley like Angel. He didn't want to do anything like Angel. And there was always the fact that anything Doc had said probably wasn't trustworthy.

But still he had thought about doing it before Buffy died. But now he didn't have to worry about it anymore. She was gone and his fleeting attempt to be human would ultimately fail as badly as Jonathan's spell. Perhaps he had more in common with the boy than he had thought.

The End


End file.
